In typical industrial settings, it is often desirable to obtain a weight of a raw or finished material. It has been a common practice to use load cells for determining this weight. Often, the materials are stored in tanks, hoppers, vehicles, or other containers, for example. One method used to obtain the weight of such containers is to provide a scale built into a floor or other supporting surface. The container is then positioned on the scale to determine the weight thereof.
Another method which is commonly used on moving containers such as cars, railroad cars, and other vehicles is to provide an undercarriage platform and a separate load holding platform which supports the transported load. Load cells are typically placed between the platforms. This system requires elaborate and expensive auxiliary equipment to militate against a misalignment of the platforms in respect of the load cells when the load is placed onto the load holding platform. In steel mills, for example, railroad cars are typically used for loading and transporting iron scrap or molten steel stored in a ladle after the steel has been tapped into the ladle from steel melting equipment. The scrap steel loading process is extremely harsh, and pieces of the scrap can become lodged between the platforms causing the weighing system to become inaccurate or inoperative.
Another typical weighing system used on moving containers such as cars, railroad cars, and other vehicles utilizes weighing beams or modules which are installed on each side of the container. This system can also become elaborate and expensive. In a conventional system, the module consists of two special beams, two load cells, and bushing/pin equipment to keep the load cells from moving or shifting. In steel mills, the heat from the ladle holding the molten steel often causes the load cells and the bushing/pin equipment to fail prematurely. The resulting downtime for repair can be lengthy, resulting in monetary losses.
Another system by the present inventor includes an axle bearing load cell weighing system. These systems integrate separate load holding platform assemblies into one unit. This eliminates auxiliary equipment compared to other methods, which lowers equipment and repair costs. However, lateral forces to the load cell still result in inaccurate weight measurement.
It would be desirable to develop a load cell system wherein undesirable bending, shear, and torsion loads are minimized and an accuracy of the load cell system is maximized.